Description

The ▄F-100D is a rank VI French jet fighter
with a battle rating of 9.7 (AB/SB) and 10.0 (RB). It was introduced in Update 1.93 "Shark Attack".

General info

Flight performance

The F-100 during its initial development was outfitted with the then de-rated Pratt & Whitney XJ57-P-7 engine and was still able to achieve faster than the speed of sound. By the time the F-100D rolled off of the production line they were outfitted with the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J57P-21. It is this engine which turns the fighter into a hot rod. The F-100D is much like a ground-based dragster in that it has acceleration, it has a high top speed and is a horrible turner.

The F-100D is aerodynamically fit with its sleek body and swept-back wings which coupled with its J57P-21 is a fantastic climber which continues to accelerate even without WEP engaged. This fighter will continue to accelerate in a flat run to the point of going over Mach 1 and even more quickly hits top speeds when in a dive. Climbing, diving and rolling are excellent capabilities of this fighter, however, this comes with having speed on your side as when flying slower, it has a more challenging time to manoeuvre without being a relatively easy target for others. The F-100D is not the greatest of turners even with leading-edge wing slats to help, manoeuvres like the Immelmann and Split-S are the most optimal when changing directions without attempting energy-bleeding manoeuvres like turning (unless that is what you are intending to do to cause an overshoot of someone following you).

Flying at speeds close to Mach 1 or past can pose a challenge for pilots utilising the 3rd-person view as a condensation cloud forms around the aircraft and obscures your view (not an issue for those flying simulator-style from in the cockpit). While this can make targeting enemy aircraft a challenge, it just takes a little more work to line up the shot either with the cannons or air-to-air missiles.

Typically aircraft which pound ground targets fly slow to ensure they hit their targets with guns, rockets or bombs, however, the F-100D becomes difficult to get out of harms way when flying slow, so it requires the pilot to learn how to bomb and fire rockets at targets at higher speeds than what they may be used to with earlier aircraft. Terms like drop & run or fire & forget come into play as the F-100D descends towards a ground target at a good clip, dropping its bombs or firing its rockets and then boogieing out of the area to ensure the ground anti-aircraft fire nor any trailing fighters gain a targeting solution on you. Some pilots like to watch and make sure their ordnance hits the target, however, this can cost you your jet when someone takes advantage of your inattentiveness and gets the drop on you. Speed in and speed out is the key with the F-100D.

Characteristics

Max Speed(km/h at 10,668 m)

Max altitude(metres)

Turn time(seconds)

Rate of climb(metres/second)

Take-off run(metres)

AB

RB

AB

RB

AB

RB

Stock

1,445

1,438

14 700

40.6

41.5

61.4

54.6

1,400

Upgraded

1,478

1,458

39.5

40.0

94.6

79.2

Details

F-100D (France) at cruzing altitude on the watch for potential enemy fighters.

Features

Combat flaps

Take-off flaps

Landing flaps

Air brakes

Arrestor gear

Drogue chute

✓

✓

✓

✓

X

✓

Limits

Wings (km/h)

Gear (km/h)

Flaps (km/h)

Max Static G

Combat

Take-off

Landing

+

-

1361

447

620

620

435

~11

~4.5

Optimal velocities (km/h)

Ailerons

Rudder

Elevators

Radiator

< 640

< 540

< 610

N/A

Engine performance

Engine

Aircraft mass

Engine name

Number

Empty mass

Wing loading (full fuel)

Pratt & Whitney J57P21

1

9,551 kg

352 kg/m2

Engine characteristics

Mass with fuel (no weapons load)

Max TakeoffWeight

Weight (each)

Type

15m fuel

20m fuel

30m fuel

45m fuel

50m fuel

900 kg

Afterburning axial-flow turbojet

10,618 kg

10,968 kg

11,669 kg

12,719 kg

13,069 kg

16,689 kg

Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB / SB)

Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (100%)

Condition

100%

WEP

15m fuel

20m fuel

30m fuel

45m fuel

50m fuel

MTOW

Stationary

3,786 kgf

5,810 kgf

0.55

0.53

0.50

0.46

0.44

0.35

Optimal

4,254 kgf(1,200 km/h)

7,978 kgf(1,200 km/h)

0.75

0.73

0.68

0.63

0.61

0.48

Survivability and armour

For post-war fighter jets wanted to take advantage of the newer jet technology and maximize both speed and ordnance carried. To keep up speed and maximize ordnance, something had to give and that came with pilot survivability. The idea is to be faster than the enemy which would make it really difficult for them to get a targeting solution on you. Though the F-100D does have protection for the pilot, it isn’t much and leaves the rest of the critical components virtually unprotected with armour. For the pilot, the back of the seat and headrest maintains a continuous piece of steel at 12.7 mm thick and the windscreen is rated at 64 mm bulletproof windscreen. Typically this type of protection is meant more for protection from defensive turret attacks from bombers rather than gun attacks from other aircraft.

The F-100D is a relatively sturdy aircraft and can take a beating before critical components begin to fail. While the engine and the pilot are important to protect as much as possible (without the engine you don’t go and without the pilot…you don’t go…) the wings are another critical component which you must protect as hits to the wings can make flying very difficult or send you to the respawn point. If being tailed by another aircraft try to speed away because if you try to pull up, turn to the side or pull-down, you risk expositing increased surface area of the skin, giving the enemy pilot more to shoot at and a greater opportunity of taking out a wing. If possible, increase speed and sway back and forth, even some very shallow elevator dips up and down maybe enough to throw off the sighting of the enemy pilot and spray his bullets all around you without exposing very much surface area of the jet, however, if there is a missile launch, take evasive action to avoid the missile and worry about the guns later.

Armaments

Offensive armament

Early fighter aircraft utilized the wings of aircraft to mount machine guns and cannons, which was very effective especially aircraft like the P-47 which could outfit four guns in each wing for a total of eight. The downside is that for these guns to be effective, they had to have a convergence set to a specific distance, bullet hits before that distance and after became less effective, the pilots needed to make sure to hit the sweet spot. For the F-100D, convergence is non-existent as all four of its M39A1 20 mm cannons are mounted on the underside of the fuselage, effectively able to decimate targets at extremely close range or snipe targets which maybe even 700 - 800 m, if not farther away, effectively almost any range (below 1000 m) is a sweet-spot for this fighter.

The cannons are air-cooled and rarely overheat, typically with the 200 round limit for each gun, the pilot should want to make each shot count and not just hold down the firing trigger and spray away. Another bonus to having all four cannons being the same type and calibre is that the bullets will have the same drop rate, so after getting used to how they work, it is much easier to estimate where to target moving vehicles to ensure a connection with the bullets. With the four cannons grouping so tightly, only a few rounds are needed to blow off an enemy aircraft's wing, eliminate a critical component (engine, compressor, fuel tank, pilot...etc...) and even take out ground units to include up to light armoured vehicles.

Suspended armament

{{main|FFAR Mighty Mouse|AIM-9B

The F-100D can carry the following suspended ordnance:

- 76 x FFAR Mighty Mouse unguided rockets

4 x AIM-9B Sidewinder air-to-air missiles

Usage in battles

The F-100 truly shines when in an up-tier situation. Unlike the F4 Phantom II or the MiG-21, the F-100 is equipped with leading-edge slats. This gives it a much higher angle of attack at low speeds, allowing the F-100 to out-turn both the F4 and the MiG-21. However, at lower battle ratings, the F-100D is best at Boom & Zoom tactics. When fighting at a lower battle rating, the F-100 has some bad flying characteristics at low speeds which includes flying like a rock with wings. At high speeds, the F-100 is a breeze to fly because of its all-flying tail and boosted controls. It has a massive angle of attack, so once you get on someone's tail, there's pretty much no escape. Best way to use the F-100D is to start climbing. 5,000 meters is usually a good altitude to climb to. Since you can out-climb most subsonic aircraft in the game, Boom & Zoom tactics should be used. Climb high, make a pass, then climb away. Be extremely careful to not bleed energy and don't turn when subsonic planes are around, they will be able to outmanoeuvre the F-100D.

Against the F-100's biggest foe, the MiG-19, turning isn't a bad idea if you keep your energy up. You bleed a lot of speed in a turn, so extreme pulls aren't recommended. The MiG-19 will rip easily at high speeds, something the F-100 doesn't have a problem with. However, the MiG-19 accelerates faster than the F-100D at all speeds and altitudes so it can slip away easily. In the best-case scenario, bait the MiG-19 for a teammate, as the MiG-19 can't do much against two F-100s.

Overall to get this bus to perform, it must be at high speeds. Keep your energy up.

Pros and cons

Pros:

Excellent guns that have both high muzzle velocity, rate of fire, plenty of ammo (200 RPG), and pack a good punch with high-explosive shells

Can carry FFAR Mighty Mouse unguided rockets

Its air to air missiles(AIM-9B) have a longer reach than the missiles on the MiG-19PT

Fast and out-accelerates both MiG-15 and MiG-17's

Cons:

Thoroughly unmanoeuvrable at slow speeds, and does absolutely not lend itself to traditional turning dogfights

Suffers from severe lockup past the Mach 1 mark

Bleeds a lot of energy when trying to turn around at high speed

While fast, it still accelerates a lot slower than MiG-19PT

Lacks many of the suspended armaments that the American F-100D has

Expensive modules

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example: